Last Hope
by ZzMikeyMousezZ
Summary: An edgy take on the Kingdom Hearts franchise that's set in an alternative universe, and that follows an original cast of characters. Although you can expect to see some familiar faces.


**_Let me tell you the story of my life..._**

I was born on Castundana, a world located a great distance from many of the other worlds that fill our shared sky. Since leaving my homeworld I've come to realize that it differs greatly from others that I have visited. You see the gap between the upper class and the lower class is vast on Castudana. It's so large that perhaps 'gap' isn't the correct word, it's more like a chasm. If you were lucky enough to be born into wealth you had little to worry about.

If you had the unfortunate circumstances to be born into poverty?

You had to struggle, starve, and fight every single day for what you needed to survive. You were segregated from the rich by towering walls of iron and steel.

I was one of the many to be born poor. It never dawned on me during the early days of my life how unlucky and oppressed we were. You see my mother Diana and my father Elias always made sure I never went without. There were days when I would watch them starve just so that I could eat.

Winters were especially harsh for those of us in the ghetto. I'll never forget the way my mother used to hold back then. She clung to me so tightly, it felt like she was afraid that I'd just slip through her fingers. I can still hear her voice whispering in my ear as I lay in her arms.

"Someday you'll do something great Kaiden, so great that you won't have to be here anymore. "

My father told me once that I was her light in the darkness. That seeing the smile on my face, and the joy in my golden eyes gave her hope.

If only hope had been enough to save her.

I was only eight when the symptoms of my mother's illness began to show. She'd sleep for long periods of time and when she was awake, she lacked the energy to do much. My father didn't think anything of it until the coughing started. My mother, the stubborn soul that she was, refused to admit anything was wrong. I know she tried to hide the fact her condition was worsening for as long as possible.

I caught her tucking away handkerchiefs stained with blood at the bottom of the trash. That's when she knew it was pointless to try and hide it any longer. My father brought in the doctor shortly after that.

The doctor was a nice man and he'd always bring me strawberry suckers whenever he visited. He stood out against the dirt and grim of our little section of Castundana. Well dressed and clean-shaven, he belonged on the other side of the wall. All the adults used to say that he pitied us. I didn't believe any of them though. There was just something in his eyes when I looked into them that told me he really cared.

When he diagnosed my mother, he seemed genuinely hurt to deliver the news. He told us she had something called Neuro-Immune Deficiency Syndrome otherwise known as NIDS. NIDS was a rare disease that affected the body's nervous system. The way he explained it to my father is that the disease advanced in stages. With each stage, the severity of her symptoms would increase until eventually, her own body would kill her.

There was no cure for this disease either, just medication that could slow it down as it progressed. Assuming we had the medicine, it would only buy my mother a couple of months at best. TAs badly as the doctor wanted to help us, he couldn't give use the medication either. Its use was reserved only for those who lived on the other side of the wall, and he couldn't afford to get caught carrying it over.

My father pleaded and cried for the doctor to help us, I watch him get down on his hands and knees to beg for help.

The doctor just couldn't.

So, we did the only thing that we could do, and that was nothing. The doctor left and we watched powerless for weeks as the disease worsened. I was too young to fully comprehend it all at the time, but it was still painful watching my mother suffer. It hurt my father more though, I think being helpless to offer any kind of comfort to the women he loved broke something in him.

It pushed him over the edge and it made him realize he couldn't just sit back by any longer.

I watched him storm out of the house, he yelled at me to stay with my mother and promised me he'd be back with the medicine she needed. I was young and curious though and so I quietly followed him. I swear I could feel the anger flowing from him as he marched towards the border.

_**"LET ME THROUGH!"**_

His voice was loud, and it boomed with a force I'd never heard from my father before. He didn't even flinch when the guards aimed their firearms at him.

**"Sir you need to step away from the border or I will shoot you."** spoke one of the guards, but his fellow guardsman let out a laugh.

**"Don't warn his ass just shot!"**

Even on the threat of his death, my father stood still. He'd become the immovable object against the unstoppable force.

**"I need to get into the city. My wife...she's...she's sick and in terrible pain. I just need the medication you have in there. With it I'll be able to will take away some of her pain!"**

There was so much emotion inside my father's voice, anger, and sadness all mixed into something different. Caught up in the moment, my father mistakenly took a step forward. The sound of gunfire echoed, and a bullet passed through my father's leg causing him to collapse on the ground.

One of the guardsmen approached, his automatic rifle gripped tightly within his hands. He towered over my kneeling father and without hesitation hit him with the butt of his gun. He continued to beat on my father repeated after that, kicking him while he was down, grinding his boots ruthlessly into his wound. It was painful to watch and when suddenly stopped, I felt a sudden urge to rush to my father's aid.

I'd only made it half a step out of the alleyway I'd been hiding in when someone pulled me back by the collar of my shirt.


End file.
